spring fever
by BMIK
Summary: A mysterious admirer sends Okita Souji little token of his love, much to the first unit captains delight and a certain demon vice commanders dismay! Who is it? But more important: How to get rid of the troublemaker! Okita x ?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi there. I just rewatched peacemaker and uhm... felt the need to write. Just a warning: since I have no real idea how far I´ll take it, rating is rather low for now... But for everyone who doesn´t like BL: whoever Soujis secret admirer is, it certainly is a male :)**

**Thanks to my beta jsakurachan1 for looking through this, I really appreciate your hard work!!**

**Enjoy!**

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Chapter 1

Okita Souji crouched down before the pig pen with a bright smile on his face and watched the pigs of mibu wolf down their breakfast. The sun was shining on his back warmly, some birds chirped their songs in the budding trees and it was generally a very beautiful spring morning.

"Buki!"

A certain piglet attacked the lap of its master, demanding his undivided attention, and glaring at another bold pig in the process that had dared to invade HIS caretakers personal space.

"Ah, Saizo, good morning!"

The swordsman patted his special friend good-naturedly on the head.

"Buki!" the pig answered, nestling itself into it's masters chest.

"Ah, but I know what would make this wonderful morning even better!" Souji exclaimed suddenly and rose to his feet.

"Buki?" The piglet tilted its head in question, a skeptical look on its little face. Hopefully his master wasn´t hinting at meeting that other grumpy pet of his, the one that smelled so very disgustingly of smoke and burned tobacco…

"Candy!" his master beamed, much to Saizo's satisfaction. It always could arrange itself with the sweet tasting confects, no question. Just as long as it didn´t have to share Souji with anyone else…

Smiling and humming, the two of them made their way through the headquarter of the Shinsengumi, towards Souji's room.

When they reached their destination, the lavender haired swordsman suddenly stopped quite abruptly in front of the door with a stunned expression.

"Ah? What is this?"

The object of his interest was neatly placed in front of the paper doors. Apparently it was a white bag, adorned with a red little bow on top. Souji crouched down again to be eyelevel with his guest and peeked at it from all possible angles. Saizo eyed the offending object suspiciously and curled its little snout, "Buki!"

"Mh…" After having observed the item from a save distance, Souji shrugged and lifted it off the floor, "Someone probably dropped it."

"Buki!" the piglet agreed. It wanted candy and wasn´t willing to let anything interfere with its demands, not even a suspiciously good smelling paper bag!

"Maybe we should take it to Hijikata-san and see that he makes out its original owner, ne?" Souji smiled at the pig, but wasn´t rewarded with approval this time. "Buki!" came the determined rejection. Anything but the foul smelling pet!

"Mh…" Souji thoughtfully tapped a finger against his chin. "Maybe you´re right Saizo. Hijikata-san is always complaining that he has too much work to do anyway. Maybe we should take care of this ourselves, right?"

"Buki." came the muffled reply. At least the piglet was spared another visit at the demon vice commanders sticky stable…

"Right. Well, then let´s see… First we should see what it contains, so we can determine its possible owner, nee?"

With a confident and determined expression, the first unit captain carefully started to remove the bow, explaining to his piglet.

"One must always be careful with unidentified objects. It could be dangerous. Maybe someone of the Choushu brought it here." The cheerful face was replaced by a dark, murderous one for a split second, before it turned back to smiling and concentrated again. Fiddling with the bow for another minute Souji suddenly exclaimed,

"But surely they wouldn´t use such a difficult bow! After all, they would want it to be opened!" and just ripped it apart. Curiously peeking into the now open bag, Souji´s expression brightened even more upon seeing its contents.

"Buki!" the piglet nudged its snout into its masters stomach, wanting to be put into the picture as well.

"Look Saizo! Someone dropped candy!"

"Buki!"came the unidentifying reply.

"Let´s see what we have here… Oh! The owner certainly has good taste!" Souji exclaimed, cheeks flushed and mouth watery, while rummaging through the little bag excitedly. Then he suddenly stopped and looked thoughtfully at his piglet again.

"Say Saizo, don´t you think it´s rather sad that these poor candies were just abandoned like this?"

"Buki!" the pig nodded its tiny head.

"And don´t you also thing that it would be rather cruel of us to return these poor candies to an owner that so carelessly dropped them?"

"Buki!"

"Ah!" Souji clapped his hands together and smiled at the pig "Then it´s decided! From now on, these Candys will come to live with us!"

"Buki!" Saizo joined the welcome party and was so besotted by the sweet smell that oozed from the bag that it didn´t even pay enough attention to its surroundings anylonger and failed to notice that they were heading towards a direction, it would definitely not have approved of. Hence it also failed to violently protest when they neared towards the demon vice commander's quarters.

"Good morning, Hi-ji-ka-ta-san!" the first captain chirped, undeterred by the other mans, as usual, grumpy face.

"Souji." Hijikata growled in his best "I-loathe-everything-that-dares-to-exist-especially-sunny-happy-mornings" growl, shoving his pipe from one corner of his mouth to the other.

"Ah, isn´t this just a wonderful morning?" Souji continued his alleluia, pressing the piglet and the candybag in a tight hug against his chest.

"Hmph." Hijikata grouchily huffed a puff of smoke right into the beautiful mornings disgusting face.

Babbling on about the wonderful weather and completely ignoring the lethal aura that emitted from the vice commander and successfully withered away everything within three miles into a shriveled little nothing, Souji decided that it was finally time to make a closer encounter with his new friends. Fumbling around with the bag again, he was about to tell the vice commander about his plans on going to the temple later and playing hide and seek with whatever kid he stumbled upon, when aformentioned man finally decided to join the 'conversation'.

"Souji. How many times have I told you to quit stuffing yourself with this brat food. Eventually it will rot away your teeth." He grumbled, and adding in an even darker voice "And my hard earned budget, too."

Souji had finally succeeded in opening the bag and held one of the sweet confitures between his dextrous fingers. "But Hijikata-san. You are smoking too, despite how often I told you it won´t do your _lungs_ any good."

Hijikata made another dourly noise and stubbornly took a drag from his pipe.

"See?" Souji beamed. "Besides, I didn´t even have to buy these. They were abandoned before our door and we decided to adopt them, right Saizo?"

"Buki!" the piglet cast it´s lot with his master, throwing the other pet a filthy glare.

"Haha." Souji laughed and was about to pop one of his candies into his mouth, but looked at his empty fingers in confusion the next moment. The piglet was violently trashing in his arms, snapping at the bumptious, stinking human who had the nerve to snatch the candy, that was under IT´S custody out of his masters hand, and snorted "Souji! You can´t just eat everything that´s lying in front of your door! What if it´s poisoned?!"

"Mh." Souji looked up towards the sky as in deep thought, a finger at his lips. "But it had such a nice bow… And it looks alright to me, ne Saizo?" With this he smiled at the Vice commander again as if with his reasoning the matter was settled.

"Geez…" The vice commander pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling the threat of an upcoming headache. Then suddenly he took a breath and hollered through the yard "ICHIMUUUUUURAAAAAAAAA!!"

Within a nanosecond the trampling of feet on wood could be heard and within another moment a red haired boy slithered along the floor, coming to a halt before the vice commander in a kneeling, bowing position.

"Hai, vice commander Hijikata-san!" was the breathless reply from underneath. The demon stared down at the boy, the slightest hint of satisfaction in his eyes for the prompt and proper appearance of his page.

"Eat this," he commanded, holding a bright red ball of sugar towards the boy.

"Hai?" Confusion evident on his face, Tetsu eyed the ball with obvious reservation, casting a nervous glance at the vice commander and an unsure one at Souji, who peered at Tetsu from behind Hijikatas broad shoulder with interest and innocent eyes.

"Hijikata-san…May I… What _is_ this?" Tetsu finally inquired, eyeing the offered item as if it would explode into his face at any given moment.

"…Candy." Hijikata stated in a manner as if it was a perfectly normal occurance for him to hand out sweets to his inferiors.

"Candy?" Testu repeated dumbfounded, looking even more aghast.

"Right!" Souji beamed from behind, nodding reassuringly.

"O-oh…" Unsure of what to say, Tetsu scratched his head and then, as it dawned on him, a smile that could certainly compete with Soujis, radiated from his features.

"I see! If that´s so, I´ll gladly take it! It´s an honour sir! You didn´t know how to tell me, so you decided to show me how satisfied you were with my recent work by giving me candy! Hijikata-san, you aren´t such a demon, are you? But don´t worry, I understand, one must give a good example and maintain order and disciplin-"

The vice commanders left eye had started to twitch violently at the wink his page had given him and the big, bleary eyes full off admiration and sympathy made him want to toss out his breakfast right then and there. But he restrained himself from doing so and instead just shoved the damn thing into the brat's bloody loudmouth.

Tetsu choked from the sudden intrusion, but once the vice commander had withdrawn his hand, he concentrated on the sweetness and his eyes widened. "Wow, that´s…That´s _delicious_! Thank you sooo much, Hijikata-san!"

The vice commander observed his personal guinea pig with steely eyes, but when he didn´t roll on the floor death-rattling, vomitting blood, he turned away uninterestedly, declaring:

"Fine, it´s not poisoned."

Souji smiled brightly at him, hugging his candy bag. "I told you."

"Hrmpf. Still, you should be more careful." Hijikata gave him his best scolding glare, which, naturally, went ignored.

"Ah, Hijikata-san, don´t be such a party-pooper. Here, have one too. I´m sure Kondou-san just dropped them for me or something like this."

Hijikata pushed away Soujis hand and the offered yellow candy within it, not ungently, and prepared himself for his own duties, murmuring "Then it´s still Shinsengumi money."

Eventually he made his escape, leaving one chewing, happy Souji and a bewildered red haired page behind.

"Ah, he needs to relax more." Souji pondered sighing, turning towards his friend, who still knelt on the floor, eyes big like saucers and jaw hanging open. Then he closed his mouth and his bottom lip started to tremble. "Hi-Hijikata-san… How could you…" Tetsu started wailing in a heart wrenching manner.

"Ah, there, there." Souji patted him on the back sympathetically, offering him another piece from his precious bag.

Meanwhile Hijikata attended his boring meeting about patrol shifts and other painfully uninteresting things, but being a samurai he even endured the thirty minutes (perceived 3 hours) of gossiping, his commander didn´t seem able to refrain himself from sharing.

Suffice it to say that a certain vice commander's mood didn´t lighten up in the slightest, so when the meeting was _finally_ over, _he _couldn´t refrain from sternly informing his commander that the shinsengumi money wasn´t supposed to be spent on brat food, even if it was for the first unit captain.

Koundo only blinked at him, telling him good-naturedly that he had no idea what Hijikata was talking about. This time, Hijikata even beliefed him, since having known the commander for such a long time, he had developed a sixth sense when the other was trying to outsmart him.

Gruffly he reached for his pipe and focused his attention on his paperwork, the matter soon forgotten.

Hijikata Toshizou: 0

Candyman: 1

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**review please?**


	2. Chapter 2

**I forgot the disclaimer last time, so here it is: I do not own peacemaker kurogane and I make no money with this fic **(as if there was something significant to earn from anyways...)

**Thanks again to my awesome beta jsakurachan1!!**

**Enjoy!**

2

It should turn out, however, that the 'candy incident' was not a singular occurrence. Because after that dreadful morning, Souji was rewarded with a beautiful bag of the finest candies every single morning. Whoever dropped them did a good job to never leave the tiniest hint of a trademark. Nor did he (or she) leave anything else besides the confects.

Hijikata Toshizou, frankly speaking, didn't give a damn about the candy, but he did, though, hear alarm bells shrilling in his ears, since they were given by some bloody unknown bastard to _his_ Souji!

Well, technically Souji wasn't really his, since he would rather choke down his tongue than to hint to the boy that he might have…different feelings for him than those of a close friend or older brother figure. Still that didn't deter him from being profoundly convinced that he had certain preemptive rights here, since it had been him who had gone through all the trouble of raising and training the brat!

Growling, he walked a tad faster through the quarters.

What was worse was that Souji apparently didn't mind the candies. Now, this wasn't much of a surprise, they were speaking about Souji, after all, but god damnit, did the kid have to stuff everything into his mouth that looked just vaguely sweet?! How often had he told him to _not take anything from strangers_?! Damn this Souji and his ridiculous sugar addiction!

Huffing, Hijikata was about to round a corner when he heard a familiar voice and a detested grunt and stopped, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"I'm wondering, too. Saizo and I have contemplated all possible and impossible culprits, but since Kondou-san said it wasn't him, we have no idea who´s leaving them," Souji wondered aloud, then a crunching noise followed and Hijikata could almost see the boy before his inner eye, happily chewing at some sugar coated obnoxiousness.

"Mh" came a thoughtful humming, the vice commander noticed with some serious aggravation to be that of his wretched little page, who was supposed to do the _laundry_.

"Maybe someone's just messing around with you." Another crunching sound followed.

"Could be possible," Souji agreed, but then exclaimed blithely, "Ah, but it doesn't matter, does it? The important thing is that whoever is giving them to me doesn't stop!"

The vice commander slapped his face with his palm, repressed a pained groan and resignedly shed all hopes he'd had for his first unit captain. He was about to finally take the corner, give his incompetent, miserable page a good lecture (maybe he could frighten the living daylights out of him by threatening him to commit seppuku), and then vent his spleen on whatever poor creature had the misfortune of being at the dojo, when Tetsu opened his fiendish mouth again and made him freeze to the spot in utter horror.

"Alright, but you know…" a mischievous edge crept into the page´s voice, and Hijikata could almost _hear_ the little monster nudge his poor, untainted,innocent Souji in the ribs conspiratorially, "… maybe, they are presents from someone who really _likes_ you. I mean, today they are heart shaped, after all."

A low, demonic chuckle, followed by a crunch hit the vice commanders ears and made them ring so loud that he almost didn't hear Souji's, curious "You think so?"

The vile, little…!

That was what he had gotten for being generous and kind, he housed and fed the hungry gob of the most vicious of all demons, disguised as a red haired brat that pretended to look as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth!

How _dare_ he place such ideas into his little Souji's pure (and admittedly slightly naive) head and corrupt him! Seppuku was even a sanction too good for the runt, they would hold a little torture session, alright!

Although first he had to make sure the demon didn't taint his first unit captain further and, fuming, he rushed around the corner.

"Ah, good afternoon, Hijikata-san." Souji smiled brightly at the vice commander, seemingly unimpressed by his scandalized, homicidal expression. Tetsu on the other hand was very well aware that anyone who wanted to see the next day shouldn't remain within the demon vice commanders eyesight for at least 24 hours, and gulped gravely. Especially him, as he technically was doing the laundry.

But to his immense luck, Hijikata's priority seemed to be the first unit captain, as he grabbed the stunned man by the arm, and started to drag him after him with a wild, determined face.

"Come with me," he ordered.

Snarling at his page who had hurried to kneel and bow down in shamed regret for having neglected his duties (but more so for being caught doing it. How was he supposed to become a watcher like this?!), "We'll talk later."

The promise was accompanied by a withering glare, and Tetsu hurried to hastily cast his gaze downwards, a cold shiver running down his spine. Maybe he should go into hiding for a few days. Hijikata had been more uptight than usual lately but _this_ wasn't healthy any longer.

Leaving the page alone with his misery, Hijikata led Souji through the Shinsengumi gate onto the dusty street, one arm still wrapped around his wrist, but careful so as to not hurt him.

"Hi-Hijikata-san, where are we going?" Souji gasped, out of breath from the sudden upheaval and the vice commander slowed down a bit.

"You'll see."

Souji frowned at the peevish reply, but then shrugged and followed his friend gaily. It wasn't very often that they went for a walk together in leisure (or at least it wasn't as often as Souji would have liked it to be), but even rarer for Hijikata to take the initiative. He just hoped Tetsu would take good care of his candies and Saizo, who hadn't even had enough time to protest at their sudden departure.

But really, Tetsu had said something quite interesting, the lavender haired man mused while he sauntered behind the vice commander (who managed to divide the crowd like Moses the Red Sea, and all afford it took was to glare a little, and the street was devoid of any breathing thing).

Someone liked him?

Mh.

He curiously wondered who that could be. Maybe it was one of the children he sometimes played with at the temple? They were so adorable and they always had so much fun together! But usually it was him giving sweets to them, and not the other way around. Besides he highly doubted that they could afford such expensive candies to such large quantities…

Souji was so consumed by his thoughts that he didn't notice that they already had reached whatever Hijikata had designed their destination and promptly bumped into his back.

"We're here," the demon vice commander informed him superfluously, arms crossed over his chest, and a smug expression plastered to his face.

"Ouch." Souji rubbed his hurting nose, slightly miffed, but all his woe was forgotten when he noticed the familiar shop they were standing in front of.

"Candy!"

With a satisfied smirk, Hijikata followed his first unit captain into the shop, furtively gloating at his successful mission; though his face betrayed nothing of the warm little feeling that crept through his guts when Souji eagerly pointed at various containers full of brat food with shining eyes. At best he looked positively bored and slightly annoyed at the constant tugging at his sleeve.

"Oh, look, look! Doesn't this just look_ tasty_?"

"If you say so," the vice commander unenthusiastically replied, but motioned him with a wave of his hand to buy it if he desired so.

"Are you sure?" Souji hesitated, startled by Hijikata's sudden generosity. "They are pretty expensive," he pointed out.

"Just take them. I don't care. " the vice commander lied, inwardly writhing at the price. But it was all rewarded when Souji beamed and suddenly hugged him in a tight embrace. "Hijikata-san, thank you so much! You are the best!"

"Alright, alright. Maintain some attitude, will you!"

"Yes, sir!" laughing, Souji let go of his friend and went to the counter to tell the vendor what he wanted.

When they left, one particular first unit captain was about a two months ration of the finest candy heavier (and another particular vice commander about the same amount of money lighter), but both were satisfied nonetheless; Souji because he got candy, of course, and Hijikata because he had put his irritating competitor out of contention.

Take that, bastard!

He´d almost have laughed his evil, triumphant victory laughter, but he didn´t want to scare the citizens to certain death, so he settled with walking next to Okita, half listening to his elaborate explanations about the merits of each and every one of his candies.

Hijikata Toshizou: 1  
Mysterious loser: 1

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Poor Hijikata... He´s just too shy :)

**Ayuka Kathryn: **I think so too, sadly there haven´t been many fanfics out lately :( But that´s why I´m writing one, so hopefully it won´t disappoint!

Review please? (makes me motivated and speeds up updates ;))


	3. Chapter 3

3

Hijikata Toshizou stretched his back, noticing with satisfaction the crackle of a bone within his body, and took another deep drag from his pipe. Today was by far the best morning he'd had in a while. And that was not because the sun was shining brightly through the lushly green trees, casting cool shadows over the headquarters, or the blissful silence, which was only softly accompanied by a chirping bird at some time. No, it was the best morning since a week because, as he had assured himself by inquiring his worthless little page, today was a morning where no candy had been found far and wide around the Shinsengumi estate.

With a content smirk, the demon vice commander let the smoke smoothly escape his lungs and made another brushstroke on the white paper lying in front of him.

After hearing of the complete and utter defeat of his secret enemy, Hijikata had felt so light (and -what he would never admit- somewhat jaunty) that he had decided to transform these beautiful feelings into one of his haikus. Though, if he thought about it, he should have known that with his strategical genius the foe would be crushed like an ant under the bare foot of a sumo ringer. Wait, maybe he could somehow integrate that particular thought into his current writing…

Even the brat had bowed lower than usual in respect for his shrewd mind, being oddly pale. But that probably came from his anxiousness regarding his punishment for his horrendous failure the day before. Hijikata, though, had felt quite magnanimous and generously renounced the seppuku sentence, instead compelling him to clean the latrine. Whatever the cause had been, the boy had bowed his head even lower and hastily made his retreat.

Hijikata sighed and took the pipe out of his mouth, a sudden frown marring his handsome features.

Wait a minute.

Shouldn't the brat have at the very least protested? And if he didn't want to risk his life by showing open rebellion, wouldn't he have at least sulked, murmuring something boldly under his breath?

This was very suspicious.

Tugging the pipe back at a corner of his mouth, the demon vice commander laid the brush aside and rose to his feet. Suddenly he had a very bad feeling. Remembering his morning encounter with Tetsunosuke again, he realized that the boy had behaved indeed pretty strange. Like quivering and fidgeting nervously; he'd even spilled more tea than usual (which was nearly an impossible thing to do, one might add).

Narrowing his eyes, and hands clenching into fists, Hijikata stomped down the floor towards his first unit captain's room. How could he have let the bloody morning fool him…

The nearer he came to Souji's premises, the louder the voices of people, who certainly made his desire to check in on his first unit captain, became.

When he was mere steps away and only one corner stood between him and the commotion, a red shadow rushed laughing at him and crashed into his legs.

"OUCH, damn you, watch where you're walk-" A certain little page finally deigned to stop rubbing his forehead and look up at his aggressor. "ing…"

With a raised eyebrow Hijikata noticed, slightly amazed, that his page turned a spectacular shade of white, bordering on a mossy green.

"Hi-Hijikata-san!"he choked, looking aghast. "W-what are you doing here?"

Hurriedly he remembered his manners and knelt down. Not waiting for the vice commander to sort out a reply he added quickly, licking his lips, "I'm sorry for being late, I was just on my way to meet you. Please don't trouble yourself, I'll gladly do whatever business you have for me, so why don't you go back to your room and instead write some of those… marvelous haikus of yours. Alright?"

At least NOW, Hijikata was certain that something was amiss. Because under NO normal circumstances would Ichimaru Testunosuke 'gladly' take care of any house chore that the vice commander bestowed upon him, much less call his haikus 'marvelous'!

"What's going on here?! And don't you dare try and lie to me."

With narrowed eyes staring down upon him and boring into his head, Tetsu had some difficulties to maintain his cool and not flinch spastically.

"N-nothing sir, everything's fine. Really. Don't worry. Shall I accompany you back to your room now, Hijikatasan?" His voice hitched slightly towards the end of the sentence, but whatever hopes he'd had, they were brutally crushed, when his master growled, "No. Now get out of my way."

Biting his bottom lip, Tetsu very slowly and reluctantly shifted to the side, but another growl made him jump to his feet instantly. Dashing in front of his master and laughing with false cheerfulness, which bordered on hysteria, Testu scratched his head and exclaimed in an inappropriately loud voice:

"Haha, I get it you are taking a stroll, HIJIKATA-SAN!"

A nervous and desperate glance was thrown towards the corner, but almost instantly fixed back on the vice commander, whose left eye began to twitch a dangerous staccato.

"That's good, strolls are very healthy, everyone should take a stroll once in a while HIJIKATA-SAN, that's fun and, oh, there's a CORNER, we are coming around the corner!"

Now he was clearly hysterical but at least, to his relief, the talks had died down and when they finally rounded the bloody corner, everyone at least made an attempt to look surprised at the vice  
commander and his sweating page. Hijikata on the other hand looked unnerved at the little group that had gathered around his first unit's captain.

Present were the comedian trio, all three of them with huge, factitious smile plastered to their faces, Shinpachi even having the nerve to actually wave at him. About 8 or 9 other people Hijikata didn't remember having bothered to learn their names (though Souji surely had. Just why did he always have to be so bloody nice to everything crawling?!) were uncomfortably eyeing him. Amidst the crowd sat Souji on the porch, his piglet in his lab and smiling at him.

"Ah, Hijikata-san! How nice of you to join us."

But despite his truly sincere display of delight, Hijikata didn't miss the (failed) attempt to hide something in his sleeve. The demon vice commander stared them down for another moment until, his face passive, he casually walked towards the group. Taking a drag from his pipe, he asked slightly annoyed "So? What are you all doing here? Shouldn't you be at the dojo, training?"

Disgruntled he noticed the collective sigh of relieve. Honestly, who did they think he was, believing that they could fool him with such a poor act? And furthermore, what was going on that made them feel relieved about his lectures about neglecting training?! Usually this was one of his most infamous speeches!

Keeping his face straight, he held up his own act, just sending some scolding glares at the squirming men.

"Nothing." Souji beamed. "It's just such nice weather and we were talking about the festival."

Meanwhile, Tetsunosuke had appeared next to his lavender haired friend and frantically nodded his head in affirmation. The comedian trio grinned and for once refrained from making any comment.

"I see. Then…" Hijikata said noncommittally, circling the group, then suddenly lunging forward and with lightening speed snatching away whatever Souji had been hiding. "…what is this?"

He held up a folded paper, ignoring the piglet´s lethal glare and Souji's huffing. "Mou, Hijikata-san, that´s mine! Give it back to me!"

The first unit captain's rosy lips had curled into an indignant pout and his eyes leaked disapproval, but since his true demonic aura was absent, Hijikata assumed that he wasn't really serious; huffy, no question, but not furious.

Therefore Hijikata just regarded him with a raised eyebrow and a cold look, before turning back to the matter at hand.

" I thought you said it was nothing, so it shouldn't be much of a problem if I have a look at it. Considering that everyone else around here has already seen it. What is it anyway?"

Souji replied unblinkingly, holding his hand out demandingly: "I told you it's nothing. Now give it back, it was given to me!"

"It was given to you? " Hijikata echoed, eyebrow rising even higher, expression becoming more and more skeptical. "Who gave it to you?"

Sulkily stroking the head of his piglet, the first unit captain explained, "It was lying in front of my door. Complete with a little red bow."

Upon seeing the blank look, Heisuke muttered a quiet, "This is bad…" and unconsciously grabbed for the sleeves of his friends. Tetsu made a step back and clung to Souji's Yukata, the other man stubbornly glaring at his vice commander.

Anxiously the rest of the group observed how Hijikata now angrily opened the paper and read through it's content. It wasn't much, only a few words, but these symbols seemed to totally and utterly shatter the man, as his jaw dropped, the pipe simply falling out of his mouth and hitting the floor with a small 'plop'. His eyes became very round and almost seemed to gush out of their sockets.

It was a Haiku:

_purity and love  
enshrined in your beauty:  
a consecration_

"See? It wasn't that important." Souji smiled warmly, snatching the paper back. "If you'll excuse me, everyone, Saizo and I have important things to attend to." Waving at them, he cut and ran.

Suddenly, it had become very, very quiet; too quiet for the group's liking. Hijikata continued to stare at the now absent note, his fingers still holding to the air, opening and shutting his mouth like a fish trying to breath for air.

"Ah, like he says, it wasn't that important. I like your haikus better anyway." Shinpache sympathetically laid a hand on Hijikata's arm, trying to sooth him.

"Yeah, me too." Sanosuke agreed, amicably bashing at the vice commander´s back, making him stumble forward a bit. Still he looked flabbergasted at the air which had a few seconds ago contained a white paper.

"Yeah, they are much more fun, anyway!" Heisuke added and all three of them started laughing heartily, albeit somewhat nervous. Tetsu watched them wideeyed, briefly wondering if they had gone mad, and slowly took some steps aback to make his retreat.

Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough, seeing as the demonic vice commander came back to his senses to live up to his name. Bellowing, he asked them who they thought they were, neglecting their duties as the cities protectors and wasting their time with such trivial, dimwitted pulp.

The comedian trio clung to each other at the sudden outburst, quivering, and Tetsu was positive that he had heard Sanosuke wailing for his mommy. He couldn't blame him, really, he'd never before seen the man this agitated, hovering over the trio and hollering at them what a pathetic sight they were and what a disgrace for the whole Shinsengumi. This time, Tetsu was sure, they would all have to commit seppuku _twice_ and tears started to streak down his face.

But instead the vice commander snarled at them that they would gather each and every member of the Shinsengumi right now and all together copy the rules of the Shinsengumi as long as it took for them to finally incorporate them.

Fuming and spinning on his heels Hijikata trudged away, leading the way to the dojo, and with a homicidal glare over his shoulder made sure that he was being followed.

Demon vice commander: 1  
Outrageous nuisance: 2

**I´m sorry, but for the time being this will be the last chapter. Seeing that very people are interested, I´ll rather concentrate on my other fics. Maybe I´ll be motivated to end it some day, but for now it is on HIATUS.**

**Thanks to Ayuka Kathryn and Aiko Celeste for reviewing, and my awesome beta jsakurachan1 for looking over it!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to fainchan5 for betaing this chapter and doing such an awesome job on top!**

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4

Hijikata Toshizou ran a hand through his hair tiredly, taking an unenthusiastic drag from his pipe. He had gone through the rules written by his unruly subordinates for almost three hours, but as of now he hadn´t gotten any results. That was, at least, not the results he had desired. After he had gathered everyone in the dojo, he let them copy the rules, looking sternly and suspiciously through the rows of intimidated, clueless swordsmen (clueless, because they couldn´t figure out what they had done to deserve being stuck in a room with the frightening, scowling vice commander). Then he had taken every scroll, making sure that every single one of them had handed his copied rules and finally he dismissed them curtly. He did so, without feeling the need to put them in the picture at all.

Later that day Suzume, his loyal shinobi, had inconspicuously handed him the offending piece of crap that was resting in front of him now, mockingly laughing at his tired, furious face. Suzume had assured him that he had replaced the haiku with one that looked exactly like the original so that Souji wouldn´t notice the switch. As of then the vice commander had ordered to be left alone and started to compare the handwriting of every single scroll with the style of the haiku.

But as it seemed, he hadn´t had any luck as of yet. Now there were two possibilities, of which Hijikata liked neither.

First was, that the culprit was skilled and thoughtful enough to change his handwriting. This caused Hijikata a major headache; that also meant that whoever it was, the culprit would turn out to be a rather determined and formidable opponent.

Furthermore, it suggested that the bastard had to be in one of the higher positions of the shinsengumi because, no matter how skilled his people were with the sword, they weren´t exactly the sharpest tools in the box. Besides, from what Hijikata could tell, the writing on the haiku was rather sophisticated and well written.

Of course it was no match for his own poetry (despite what others said, the stupid runts just didn´t recognize it when they were confronted with genius…), but it was well thought out…

Hijikata didn´t like the idea that one of the men he trusted with his life would betray him like this. Because even if Hijikata hadn´t actually claimed Souji to be his in an official way, he was acknowledged as the boy´s mentor. Everyone who had interest in Souji would have consulted him first.

But then maybe not… He grumpily remembered the incident that had occurred when Souji had hit puberty and Hijikata had announced that everyone -with a special sideglare exclusively reserved for the comedian trio- who would suggest only the slightest hint of something sexual in the presence of his innocent, little Souji would get a painful castration á la Hijikata Toshizou.

Sighing once again, Hijikata stood from the tatami and went to the open sliding doors. Leaning against the frame with his arms crossed over his chest and melancholy he gazed at the red evening sky.

The second possibility, however, not only caused him a headache but outright agony, because it would mean that someone from outside the shinsengumi was hitting on _his_ first unit captain.

This was bad because Hijikata couldn´t force him, or her, to commit seppuku. It was worse because, it meant that someone had open access into their quarters and was able to collect rather private information. And that was really worrying him, because he didn´t want to think of what such a person could find out, besides Souji´s love for sweets and poem.

Taking another drag and slowly blowing the smoke into the cooling breeze, Hijikata pondered on the problem, another line of worry appearing between his eyes, when the light sound of a sliding door let him snap back to attention.

With a disgruntled scowl on his face and harsh words on his lips, he wanted to holler at whoever dared to disturb him despite his explizit orders to be left alone, but the soft voice of Yamanami, second vice commander of the shinsengumi, prevented him from doing so. Perceptive as he was, he had already anticipated the demon´s anger.

"Excuse me, Hijikata- san for disrupting you."

Making an annoyed wave with his hand, Hijikata gestured the man to enter and make himself at home. The bespactacled man bowed lightly and slid the door shut behind him.

Hijikata wasn´t really in the mood to talk right now, so he didn´t make any attempts to start a conversation. Instead he turned back towards the now dark garden, watching a firefly buzzing by and hoping that Yamanami would just state his business and go away.

From behind he heard a light shuffling on the tatami.

"Ah. So that is it," came the slightly curious man exclaim. Yamanami took the Haiku from the mess of scrolls that were spread all over the floor. Pushing up his glasses a little, the man started to read eventually letting it sink down and commenting. "Oh my. Splendid, isn´t it, Hijikata-san?"

Hijikata made a really frightening, growling sound, turning around and snatching the paper out of the other man´s hands in a rather rude manner.

"Not in one of your better moods, I see," Yamanami observed calmly, adjusting his glasses again and ignoring the other´s attitude.

"You want a prize now or what? Since you´re so attentive, you should have noticed that I´m not in the mood for company." Toshizou snarled, letting the paper vanish in his sleeve and giving the man a challenging, daring look.

Yamanami didn´t move, instead observing the furious vice commander, who had a hard time to maintain his composure, because the whole thing was really unnerving him, and just soothingly said "Mah mah, Hijikata-kun. I didn´t mean to offend you."

The other man didn´t look calmer, but plopped down on the floor nonetheless, taking another drag from his pipe.

"Whatever. What brings you here?" he asked rather unenthusiastically, observing the other man´s unbothered face.

"Oh, well. I just heard that you let the men gather in the dojo today and made them copy the rules…"

"That´s right." Hijikata shrugged disinterestedly, adding, "these undisciplined brats need to be reminded of the bushido, we´re not a kindergarten here…"

"I see... and am I assuming correctly that a certain haiku had nothing to do with your order at all?"

Hijikata wasn´t fooled by the innocent look his friend gave him. He knew the man too long for this, but decided to ignore the knowing glint in his eyes. Instead he laid down on his side, resting his head on a hand and took his pipe out of his mouth, appearing somewhat distressed.

"Don´t be ridiculous."

He snorted disparagingly. "I don´t have time to waste on such ridiculous crap."

"Hm, so it would seem..." Yamanami let his eyes wander over to the garden, his face an unreadable, but gentle mask.

Hijikata simply arched an eyebrow, but wasn´t very eager to discuss the matter any further, so he refrained from making a comment.

"Spring really is the most beautiful of all seasons, isn´t it?" Yamanami suddenly mused into the silence, his voice carrying a tone of sentiment.

The other vice commander made an uncommiting grunting noise.

"Everything´s just so delicate and, at the same time, so strong, as if to stubbornly prove to the winter with all it's suffocating ice claws that he holds no power over life-"

"If you want to talk about the bloody weather, do so with Isumi," Hijikata interrupted him harshly, tapping the tabacco out of his pipe with an irritated expression.

"Of course, excuse me. You must be tired from the hard work." The short-sided glance at the scrolls went unnoticed by the demon vice commander, but it wasn´t as if he would have cared anyways.

"Well then, I´ll take my leave."

Hijikata inwardly heaved a sigh of relief, but before he opened the door to leave his friend alone, Yamanami stopped again, pushing his glasses up and saying in a quiet voice, "You should tell him, before it´s too late."

"I don´t know what the hell you´re talking about!"

The vice commander looked coldly at his friend, and though spoken in a neutral tone, Yamanami got the hidden, threathening tone message. It clearly warned him not to overstep his boundaries.

"Of course. I am sorry to have bothered you. Good night."

There was no answer but as soon as Yamanami had left, Hijikata rolled on his back, staring at the ceiling with an arm drapped over his forehead and wondering if the vice commander's words might not hold more truth than he felt comfortable with.

It couldn´t hurt to take some precautions, just to be on the safe side, could it?

Bringing his upper body into a sitting position again, Hijikata pinched the bridge of his nose before he called in a neutral tone. "Suzume!"

"Yes," came the muffled reply from the other room.

"I have another mission for you. From now on, you will observe the first unit captain- Souji Okita. Report everything unusual that he´s doing or anything that happens in his environment. Make sure that he doesn´t notice you."

"Certainly, sir."

Feeling a lot more confident, Hijikata lit another pipe. Should the culprit go on and try something now, there was nothing that would not escape his shinobi´s sharp eyes.

Almost smirking again, Hijikata took the pipe out of his mouth and a brushed his hand through his hair. He had a haiku to write.

Genious poetrist: 2

Bad pen pusher: 2

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**Thanks for all the awesome reviews!**

**(Beta-note from faichan5: ** **I am beta-ing as fast as possible. I do quite a few beta-ing jobs so please don't hate me for being slow! I have been sick to. **

**BMIK: It´s okay,hun, you´re doing great^^)  
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	5. Chapter 5

**Revised! Thanks to faichan5 you are now able to read it without any stupid typos, yay!**

**It might have become a bit angsty towards the end, but oh well. Love is worse than war and all that stuff ;)**

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5

"And?" a certain vice commander asked gruffly, trying to hide his impatience as best he could. He stopped pacing when he noticed his loyal ninja coming back from his mission.

The whole day Hijikata had been insufferable. The fact that he didn´t know who was pestering _his_ Souji with their unwanted attention was almost killing him, as well as the worry that this person might be one of his trusted man.

And all day long he´d just been waiting for time to go by and for evening to come so he could finally get his report from Suzume. Of course it would just happen that, when you were waiting for time to progress, it would viciously decide to stubbornly refuse the request and creep forward even slower, just to piss Hijikata off. And the worst thing was that he couldn´t exactly scream at something or work his frustration off on the time.

So he had to find a substitute, and he accidently happened to have a whole bunch of living punchbags under him. Too bad, though, that the runts somehow seemed to have develop some early warning system, because whenever he heard their infuriating chattering and cackling and went around the corner to give them a carefully worked out dressing-down the place was vacant. Only the lonely wind blew over trampled grass and some dust swept through the air.

This had happened a few times, just adding to Hijikata´s frustration because he was now determined to get them and then help them god for fleeing their vice commander's much needed work-out lecture!

Well, in the end he hadn´t caught the little runts but at least time had gone by... somewhat. The rest of the day had been spent with contemplating if he should go to see Souji. He missed his daily dosis of sillyness (and humiliation), but of course he couldn´t do this. He had to stay put in the background as the silent, patient observer (he this time just wasn´t, but gave his best pretending to be). If he showed up at Souji´s he might scare off the culprit or interfere with Suzume´s observations.

No, he had to exercise patience and therefore he had forced the snot-nosed redhead of his page to go look for Souji every fifteen minutes and report if there were any changes or unusual behaviour.

Since running from Hijikata´s estate to Souji´s place took 7 minutes Tetsu had just collapsed after the 7th round without a pause, crying at the unfairness of it and Hijikata had to grumpily release him after Hajime had calmly pointed out that he was positive that Tetsu would make a fabulous ghost very soon.

Shaking his head a little at the thought, Hijikata put his pipe out of his mouth, one hand resting in his yukata as he looked down on the kneeling ninja.

"My sincerest apologies, but I could not detect anything unusual, apart from the comedian trio trying to sell Okita-san large amounts of ginko."

The vice commander frowned, murmuring to himself "Why would they want to sell Souji an aphrodisiaku-" He stopped, expression growing morose at an alarming rate.

Then he shook his head as if to clear it and pushed his rage aside. This would have to wait till later, there were more important matters to take care of now. But he would surely invent a new torturing method, exclusively reserved for them…

Looking back at Suzume, Hijikata asked with a significantly calmer and serious voice "And, could you observe if Souji got anything with a red bow?"

"No sir," was the answer from below.

"Hm." Hijikata took another drag from his fuming pipe, breathing out a slow, relieved breath.

"Very well. Thank you."

The ninja pressed his forehead against his slender fingers and Hijikata turned away, not even hearing Suzume leaving the room.

The ghost of a smile tugged at his lips, face relaxed and the ever present frown eased for once, making the man´s handsome face instantly looking a few years younger.

This was the best 5 minutes of the day, he mused, feeling a strange calmness overtake him as he stood in the doorframe, watching the pink - orange sky and the sun slowly vanishing behind the horizon.

If Suzume hadn´t found out anything it could only mean that the disruptive element that had dared to invade his territory and disturb his peace had given up, acknowledging Hijikata Toshizou´s superiority. But what was more important was the fact that he also accepted his sovereignity over the first unit´s captain.

Heh. There was just no one messing with Hijikata Toshizou.

Knocking the ash from his pipe and refilling it, the demon vice commander decided that he could go see Souji as well, now that the problem was solved.

With a gleeful smirk the man wandered along the porch, long shadows casting a stripe shaped pattern on the polished panels. When he arrived at the young man´s room he found it empty though.

Frowning, Hijikata had a look through it, but then just shrugged and plopped down on the tatami to wait for his friend's arrival.

His languid gaze wandered over the almost empty ground, little puffs of smoke escaping from his mouth.

And then something caught his eye. Something red.

Stopping to drag at his pipe, Hijikata went up from his lying position and walked over to the boy´s futon that was neatly resting in one corner. With narrowed eyes, the vice commander reached out for the small cloth looking out from between the white sheets and pulled it. The thing revealed to be a bow of the same colour and shape like the ones that had been wrapped around all the little presents Souji had received.

Pipe clattering to the ground, Hijikata grabbed the futon and shook it with trembling hands, his frame shaking with anger and frustration. Eventually a white paper fell to the ground, looking up at him almost mockingly.

The demon vice commander crouched down and took it, just about to read its contents when the door slid aside.

"Ah, Hijikata-san! How nice of you to pay me a visit!" Souji exclaimed a second later, sounding truly delighted. Light footsteps could be heard as he shuffled over the tatami, explaining "Saizo and I were just having a bath and- What are you doing there Hijikata-san?"

The frown on his youthful face was evident in his voice when he stopped talking, eyeing his vice commander´s back and the dishevelled futon with slight discontent.

Hijikata slowly turned around, wordlessly holding up the new haiku he had just found.

"Did you search my things?" Souji asked, suddenly sounding remarkably colder as he eyed the white sheet of paper and the blank expression of his friend, that slowly turned into a scowl.

"What is this?" Hijikata asked, ignoring the question and tightly waving the damn haiku.

"Well, as you can see- it is another Haiku," the lilac haired man answered, eyes narrowing and his whole demeanor becoming dismissive.

Hijikata was too agitated to notice the shifting in behaviour though, accusing in a low voice, "Is this how it is now? You are hiding things from me?"

"I wouldn´t have to hide them if you would behave more mature. But as it seems my private sphere doesn´t mean anything to you, so hiding seems futile as well," was the frosty reply and with a quick movement that took the vice commander off-guard the paper was snatched out of his hand.

Growling, the older man reached out to get it back, but was deterred from doing so by a dangerous snarl from the young swordsman.

"What´s with that attitude?" Hijikata asked frostily, crossing his arms over his chest but feeling quite uncomfortable under Souji´s expressionless stare. This demonic gaze was usually only cast upon those that would shortly fall under his deadly blade and the demon vice commander had the unpleasant feeling that maybe this time he had gone a little too far. Still he felt that he was right here and that Souji was being traitorous by deliberately hiding such crucial things from him! He hadn´t sided with the culprit now, had he?

"Do you actually like getting this crap?" he therefore growled, eyes just as frosty as he observed how his friend folded the paper and let it vanish in his sleeve, never leaving his eyes from the demon vice commander.

"And what if I do?" Souji retorted, lifting his chin in a challenging manner.

"Don´t be ridiculous," the other man snorted, forcing a cruel laugh from his throat that was meant to hurt Souji.

"And what is so ridiculous about the thought that someone might like me?" The first unit captain followed his superiour with his eyes as the man went over to grab his pipe from the floor and take a drag.

Hijikata just gave another snort and another laugh, answering in a condescending manner, "Now really Souji, I thought you to be smarter than that. You ain´t really thinking that someone would sent you gifts out of love now, do you? "

Souji didn´t say anything, but his tight expression made clear that this was just exactly what he was thinking.

Giving another cold chuckle that echoed through the dim evening, Hijikata took the pipe out of his mouth, inwardly raging with frustration, anger, and despair. His clear, low voice cut right through the air as he ferociously pointed out "And that is exactly why I have to search through your things. You are a naïve little kid, Souji. A brat that occassionally goes out to turn into a demon and slash whatever comes into its way, but a child, nonetheless. A runt that doesn´t know anything about the world and how it´s turning. Who in his right mind could love something like you? An immature brat." He paused for a moment, his voice going down to a low whisper. "A murderer."

The words were out, before he could stop himself, and aghast, Hijikata shut his mouth.

The room was silent for a moment, until Souji said slowly, head lowered and face hidden by his long hair, "Hijikata-san."

The demon vice commander flinched at the grave tone, his eyes shifting to the small fists that hung by his first unit captain´s side.

"I advise you to leave this room before I forget myself."

"Souji…" the older man made a helpless step forward, trying to pacify the situation that had somehow totally slipped from his control.

With one hand he reached out to the trembling figure before him, but his hand was brutally slapped away and eyes blazing with fury and hurt shot up at him.

"GET OUT!"

Surprised, the vice commander stepped back and after another moment of being haunted by those eyes and the overwhelming guilt it inflicted on him, he turned around and left the room, only hearing the soft thud as Souji collapsed on the tatami with strangled sobs.

Worthless, disgusting trash: 2

(still undefeated) Enemy: 3

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**Beta-note from faichan5- Poor Poor Souji-chan. I wanna hug the little emo kid. **

**Evanette chan: **In the end Hijikata MIGHT be the winner, but seeing how he´s completely messing up right now, we can´t be sure ^^ I´m glad you liked it so far and thank you for the reviews!

**Naokiru Micihyuki:** Of course I don´t mind if you stick with me to the end, actually I´d be very happy if you do! Haha, yes the scoring at the end of the chapters becomes increasingly difficult, because it is hard to think of names fo the secret admirer... Thank you for reviewing!

**Aiko Celeste:** I t really does, doesn´t it? I thought so too, that´s why I stopped writing because I changed my priorities. But seeing that people are still interested keeps me going, so hopefully I´ll finish this! Thank you for the steady and awesome support, I hope I won´t disappoint you!

**faichan:** I just found some hope back ;) I love HijiOki too, but we´ll have to see if the grumpy vice commander will come out of this battle victoriously this time... Anyway, thank you for the feedback and I hope you enjoyed the new chapter as well^^

**Shadow Hylian:** Thank you very much for the kind words^^ I´m really trying my best to do the characters right and read the manga and watch the anime quite often for research purposes (well... I also do it simply because it´s fun^^) and everytime I find something new, which makes me doubt sometimes if I really manage to keep them IC. So I´m very glad to hear that you think I do :)

**Lo:** Thank you very much! I think the mysterious poetrists identity will be revealed soon^^

**avertedeyes:** Haha, yes poor Hijikata... He´s just being misunderstood! XD Thanks for reviewing!

**wyrdsister jr. : **Since I wouldn´t want to kill you I just sat down and wrote another chapter. It was fun and I think I will continue, so we´ll hopefully see each other at the next chapter^^ Thank you for the comment!

**Just out of curiousity: who do you think the culprit is?** ^^

**tbc?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey there! It´s another update, yes :) I was so overwhelmed by the response that I instantly sat down and did another chapter **sigh****

**And this time it´s even betaed, thanks to faichan5 (*hugs*).**

**Now, see what happens, how the culprit is revealed and if you review I´ll just write another one :)**

**Enjoy!**

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6

Hijikata sat in his room, listlessly smoking his pipe, dark circles around his eyes. He didn´t know when the last time had been that he felt like shit, but he very well could have done without feeling so now. Of all people, he had to lose his temper with Souji…

The strange noise the boy had let out after he had left the room was still haunting him, making him feel another wave of miserableness. He didn´t even know if this was a word, but it described his current condition rather well.

True, Souji had pushed it with hiding these things from him, and betraying him like this. It just made clear how far they had drifted away from each other, how much the damn gift sender –may his soul be trapped in eternal anguish in hell- had destroyed their formerly intact and well-going relationship. Now it was just all wrecked and the worst thing was that Hijikata just couldn´t blame it ALL on his newest, favorite scapegoat.

Because what he had said was just… inexcusable. And it had probably more destroyed between them than the culprit could ever have dreamed for.

To his defense, the demon vice commander could say that he hadn´t been lying, entirely. It was true, Souji was rather naïve at times, but actually that was a trait of his character that Hijikata admired, and loved even. The gentleness, the mischief, the lightheartedness with which the first unit captain treated things was a refreshing and welcome alternative to the heavy, and gloomy way with which Hijikata saw the world himself. It helped him to not drown in the world´s madness, to not lose himself in its ugliness. It showed him that things could be good, enjoyable, cherished even, despite the scheming and constant danger that was surrounding them. Souji and his childishness was a relief to him, his ray of hope, something he envied the other for because he had lost his innocence so very long ago and couldn´t hope to ever find it again.

That had led him to his second accusation and the guilt it inflicted in him. Because it was also true that Souji WAS a murderer; this was an undeniable fact. But what was also out of question was the fact, that it had been Hijikata who had made him this way. It was him who had ripped the purity from little Souji and stained his hands with the blood of so many. But he also needed him to be like this, needed his skills, his strength, his support. Somehow, the demon vice commander thought bitterly, he was dependant on Souji in every way.

So who was he to say such horrendous things to a boy he had made that way? A boy who had only tried to find a little love, some acknowledgment, something _normal_? In the end Hijikata wished for nothing more than for Souji to find someone who would love him with all his heart; someone who would see what he could see in the first unit captain. The only problem, was that he wanted this person to be himself, if only he could bring himself to admit it…

By now it was probably too late anyway. He might be able to settle things with Souji, maybe he could even bring himself to apologize – though he was still convinced that he´d been partially right. Maybe they could pretend that everything was alright on the outside, but on the inside… He could only hope that Souji would forgive him some day and understand that those words had been somewhat necessary to prevent him from getting hurt even more.

Hijikata was still convinced that the culprit –may he slowly rot in his own feces- was a bad thing, no matter how he looked at it. Of course he had stolen Souji from him, which on itself was an inexcusable crime, but apart from that- the whole secrecy of the act unnerved the vice commander. Any man would just act like one and tell the truth flat out instead of sending those… ridiculous things. Although, Hijikata had to admit the slight brilliance of it. Whoever it was surely kept himself interesting with those…

Angrily shaking his head the man reached over to his desk to get the Haiku he had Suzume steal. What unnerved him the most was that he thought that the handwriting seemed somewhat familiar. Which, at least, dismissed the possibility that it was someone from outside the shinsengumi. Then again,that did not really bring peace to his mind, though.

One arm draped over his forehead, Hijikata held the Haiku over his eyes with a pensive expression, not really seeing it.

He had to sort his thoughts. Had to concentrate on finding the sender. Maybe he could find a way to cope with it then.

Now, who within the shinsengumi could be the possible offender?

Almost instantly, the vice commander dismissed everyone of the lower ranked members. Souji might have many admirers amongst them but none of them were sophisticated enough to write something like that, had the financial means to buy such expensive sweets to such quantities nor were they clever enough to be so secretive and place them before the first unit captain´s door without anyone noticing it.

This only left the higher ranked members.

Kondo-san, their good-natured, but slightly dense commander was out of question. He might be a womanizer, but as far as Hijikata knew his interest was solely focused on the other gender. Besides, he wasn´t refined enough to pull such a stunt.

Yamanami-san, the second vice commander may be acting as his opposition, but he certainly wouldn´t do such a thing to Hijikata either, even if it was meant as a 'push in the right direction', to open his eyes. He might be perceptive and had seen how the wind was blowing where Hijikata´s feelings for Souji were concerned, but he would never take such measures that could hurt either of them. And he had a woman, so there certainly were no genuine feelings towards Souji involved.

This left only Hajime, Tetsu, Tatsu, and the comedian trio.

Saito might have been able to pull such a stunt, but his interests lay somewhere entirely elsewhere, Hijikata was sure of this. Besides he had an alibi, because until two days ago he had been on a mission and therefore hadn´t been able to do it.

Tetsu admired the long haired captain, but apart from the fact that he already had a girlfriend and also was too dense and clumsy to execute such a refined act, he was as poor as a church mouse. And far too afraid of Hijikata's wrath.

Tatsunoske Ichimura was broken as well, but he had access to the shinsengumi's funds and technically he could have been able to do it. He was a friend of Souji´s too and he was just clever enough to think something like this up, but as soon as it came to the execution the demon vice commander seriously doubted that he had the nerve to do it. Besides he was loyal to Hijikata and, again, probably too afraid to provoke his revenge. And somehow he just couldn´t ,for the hell of it, imagine the ever so serious and earnest Tatsunoske sneak out at night to place little token of his love before Souji´s room…

This only left the comedian trio then. Which was almost ridiculous to even think about because they were just too silly to do something that required something from this caliber. By no means did Hijikata think that they were stupid, they surely were a clever, and very dangerous bunch. And they maybe had the guts to offend him by doing their jokes, but this was taking it too far even for them. Surely they would have stopped doing these things as soon as they noticed that Souji was taking them seriously.

Then he remembered that infuriating man with the strange hair and the false accent who occasionally tried to win Souji over for his cause of 'peacemaking'. He could just imagine that obnoxious person trying to bribe his Souji with sweets, but with love-haikus? Well, maybe even that, but the efforts to observe and patrol their headquarters had been doubled since Ikedaya and he doubted that Ryoma Sakamoto could manage to infiltrate the shinsengumi four nights in a row, and escape the keen eyes of his ninja on top.

Frustrated, Hijikata scrunched the Haiku up and threw it into a corner when a thought hit him and he bolted upright, eyes wide and disbelieving.

Of course… The culprit had managed to escape his watchers eyes, which should have been an impossible thing to do. But still, a new Haiku had been delivered.

Which could only mean…

Suzume had access to the shinsengumi funds.

Suzume was clever and sophisticated.

Suzume knew about Souji Okita´s love for sweets and Haikus.

Suzumu was, naturally as a ninja, sly and secretive.

Suzume had copied the Haiku without Souji noticing that it was not the original. Which also meant that his own handwriting was identical to the one from the first Haiku.

Suzume was there that night when the culprit had taken actions again, and he had claimed to not have seen them.

Suzume had the guts to do it.

And Suzume Yamazaki surely was the least person Hijikata Toshizou would have suspected.

Overwhelmed, Hijikata held his swimming head, trying to process just what revelation he had stumbled upon here. Surely this couldn´t be, right? This had to be a coincidence, a misunderstanding…

Suzume was his loyal shinobi, his most trusted weapon, he wouldn´t… But since his sister´s death he had changed, the vice commander thought, standing up and pacing the room in agitation. He wasn´t as stiff and devoted anymore. Sure, he did his job with the same accuracy and success rate like before, but it wasn´t with that desperate attempt to appertain to the shinsengumi anymore. He had found his own way, if Hijikata tried to put it carefully. And why shouldn´t he have found that he had feelings for the first unit captain? They were something close to friends and with sending these gifts Suzume would have found the perfect way to test Souji´s reaction. His eyes and ears where everywhere within the shinsengumi and it would be a piece of cake for him to spy on the first unit captain and see if he was interested.

Suddenly the vice commander felt incredibly sick. To think that… but there was no doubt about it any longer.

Suzume Yamasaki was most likely the culprit.

And with a frighteningly cold and determined expression, Hijikata Toshizou decided that he would bring him down. He wasn´t called _demon_ vice commander for nothing and he would make sure that an example was made that would deter ANYONE from ever trying to betray him ever again.

**Sherlock Toshizou:** 3

**Traitorous, ungrateful bastard of a shinobi aka. Suzumu Yamazaki:** 3

* * *

** Heh, it seems that Suzume (I´ll write him with 'z' because that his how he is pronounced in my mangas...) was a rather obvious choice, since 2 reviewers named him^^**

**Beta Note- Hiya Im Faichan5 and I will be beta-ing from now on. I am sorry if i missed some things! I love this story! Anyhow, DUN DUN DUN the culprit is revealed! Remember to review because the author will love you all and will write more!**

**Shadow Hylian:** Ha, you´re right: Hijikata is in denial and he got very jealous, but instead of confessing he went all berzerk^^ He´s just a helpless fool sometimes, I guess ;) But at least he knows about it, so there´s potential for a change. That were some interesting guesses about who the culprit is, but ironically we dismissed them both on the same premises XD

**wyrdsister jr: **Hehe, it didn´t work twice a day, but one week later is alright I think, isn´t it? ;) Btw: I LOVED your 'conspiracy theory', that was so cute ^^ But you were really good at guessing, I must say! (I briefly thought of making Souji the culprit himself, but then it didn´t work because of the first chapter, so I had to abandon this thought rather quickly).

**faichan5:** Thanks again for the betaing, you are awesome :) I hope to be able to write a new chapter soon and send it right away^^

**Naokiru Michiyuki:** Ah, poor Hijikata is just a victim of his own denseness :D Which doesn´t make it less cruel for Souji, though. You´re right, it´d be so much easier if Hijikata could just SAY it (or Souji would develope a new sense for detecting the (nonexistent) 'innuendos').

**Evanette chan:** Yes, Hijikata is a jerk *sigh* But I´m glad you still liked it!

**Aiko Celeste:** Yes, usually you would send roses or chocolate to confess, wouldn´t you? Hijikata sure got it all wrong XD You were good at guessing, by the way!

**I´d be happy if you´d leave me a little review^^ (It´ll get the next chapter written.)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here´s the new chapter!And before you start there is something totally cute I just have to share with you: It´s the angsty version that wyrdsister jr. thought up for this story!**

Okita: No one loves me. I can't even pretend to be beloved. I wrote the haiku and wanted to deceive myself that it was from Hijikata. It was my little fake happiness. And now Toshizou hates me for weakness and self-delusion. Oh, cruel world… *commits seppuku*  
Saizo: No! My master. You can't leave me alone. Wait up for me…*commits seppuku*  
Tetsu: *steps on Saizo's body* A! I've killed Okita's pig. I don't deserve forgiveness. *commits seppuku*  
Yamanami: I should have done something more. It's all my fault. *commits seppuku*  
Sanosuke: Ha. And you call it seppuku? Watch as a professional works. * commits seppuku *  
Kondo: oh, my men. I don't know why you do this. I am such a bad captain…* well you know. commits seppuku *  
Suzumu: Okita´s dead, so I can't observe him now. I… I can't discharge my mission. I am so terrible a shinobi *commits seppuku *  
Tatsu: hmm. Everybody did it. Maybe only I didn't hear the new order. *commits seppuku JIC*  
Hijikata: *standing by the knee in blood* I was wrong. And now I'm punished by fate. Guys, you showed me how dark the world is, which I chose for myself. You shattered the ice around my heart and now I can't stand the pain of loss. Exist the only one way for me to deal with it…*writes haiku*

-the end-

**Haha, of course the story won´t progress like this, but I found it too funny. And in a way it seems almost realistic, doesn´t it? ;)**

**Now, on with the actual chapter!  
**

**Enjoy, and thanks to my awesome beta faichan 5 for her help!**

* * *

7

"Good morning, Okita-san!" Tetsu exclaimed behind the mountain of dirty, smelly clothes that were piled on his tiny little arms. Well maybe he was not that tiny anymore, he´d grown quite a bit lately… Craning his neck, he looked past the mountain he was carrying to the well to wash and beamed at the first unit captain.

Okita Souji was sitting on the porch, illuminated by the warm sunlight that made his violet hair look all soft and shiny, and glistened in his huge, gorgeous eyes. He was clad in his white yukata, Saizo was sitting in its master´s lap and glared at him and there was a smile on Souji´s lips as he waved at him.

Everything was just as usual. Yet somehow it just wasn´t.

Frowning, Testu let the pile slip from his arms and unceremoniusly fall down on the porch. Scratching the back of his head, he awkwardly stepped over the clothes and plopped down beside his friend, who eyed him curiously.

"Good morning, Tetsu-kun," he smiled, stroking over his piglets rosy back. "Are you selected to washing again?" The mieschievous twinkling that normally went with his teases was absent this time, or at least Tetsu had a hard time seeing it.

Throwing the stinking pile a morose look, Tetsu´s shoulders slumped down as he exclaimed with some indignant self-righteousness, "Yeah. You wouldn´t believe it! I mean after all that happened at Ikedaya, you´d think I´d get some real important jobs now. But nooooooo, here I am washing stinking rags!"

He gave an angry huff, adding through gritted teeth "Hijikata-san is such a demonic slave-driver sometimes…"

He looked up at Souji, expecting the other man to defend his demon vice commander with a good natured laugh, but the man just continued stroking his piglet, the thin smile on his lips not reaching his eyes.

Frowning, the redhead rubbed his arm in a nervous, unsure gesture, because Souji´s behaviour stressed him a little. He could sense that something was wrong, despite Souji´s efforts to behave like his usual self.

"Are you alright Okita-san?" he therefore asked, worriedly eyeing the first unit captain from out of the corner of his eye.

"Of course, Tetsu-kun!" Souji beamed at him, making the page jump a little in surprise and consternation. "The weather is beautiful, and Saizo and me are bent on going to the shrine and meet with some friends of ours!" He hummed a little laughing noise, staring Tetsu straight in the eyes.

The redhead had to avert his gaze though, feeling even more strange. Somehow he knew that Souji was lying and that he wasn´t alright at all. It seemed, though, as if the first unit captain did not intend to tell him what exactly it was that made him sad and angry –because that was what Tetsu felt he was.- So the redhead gave a short laugh, scratching his head and saying "Ahahaha, I see."

He felt extraordinarily awkward and stupid, but didn´have much time to marvel on the feeling because the next moment a shadow came around the corner and Tetsu jumped, in a split second humbly kneeling before his master. Inwardly, he cursed himself for having neglecting his duties again and foremost, being caught at it.

Hijikata, standing high above him, didn´t spare him so much as a look though, and announced in a distracted, but calm voice, "Here you are. I expect you at my room in 5 minutes."

Dumbfounded for not being yelled at and given insulting names, Tetsu remained with his head lowered to the floor, trying to look up at the demon vice commander.

"Sir, but I have to do the laundy today, sir."

Hijikata just gave the smelly pile of formerly white training clothes a brief, alienated look, then his eyes lingered on Tetsu for a moment before he turned away his attention completely, not sparing them another look.

Awkwardly, Tetsu got up from his kneeling position, leaving the clothes be, and hurrying to get out of the… awkward zone. Because really, he´d rather have being yelled and kicked at than having this atmosphere.

Curiosity naturally getting the better of him though, he just went far enough away to still be able to overhear the demon vice commander and his first unit captain, hiding around the corner.

"Good morning, Hijikata-san," said Souji in an utterly neutral, sober tone that made Tetsu´s jaw drop to the floor. Despite the fact that Souji had failed to greet the man upon his arrival, he was so uncharacteristically cold towards the vice commander that it gave Tetsu the creeps. Something was very wrong here, not only with Souji but with Hijikata as well.

Perking up his ears, Tetsu leaned a little forward, one eye glancing around the corner and at the two figures.

"Did you get another one?" the demon vice commander just asked, sounding as unperturbed as if Souji´s behaviour was perfectly normal and expected.

Wordlessly, the first unit captain stared straight forward, his hand having stopped to stroke his piglet. Then, after a moment that seemed as if he was contemplating something with himself, he just reached as quietly into his sleeve, and pulled something out that he held into Hijikata´s direction without leaving his eyes from the spot he was staring at.

The vice commander took the red rose just as wordlessly, letting it vanish in his own sleeve.

After the exchange, Souji stood up rather abruptly, putting his piglet down on the ground and with his back towards the other man saying, "Well then, Hijikata-san, I don´t want to steal more of your precious time. If you´d excuse me…"

He was just about to leave when Hijikata made a sudden step forward, reaching out and lying his hand on the genius swordsman´s slim shoulder.

"I am sorry," he said quietly, voice sounding truly genuin and somewhat resigned, defeated and now Tetsu was REALLY freaked out! He´d always thought that the day Hijikata Toushizou would apologize to anyone was the day the world would go down!

But the birds kept on singing, the puffy clouds still idly moved over the crystal blue sky, and the cicadas didn´t stop their noises in the high, green grass.

Despite the natures normal humming, it was silent for a moment. It was that kind of silence that emerged between people and managed to suffocate everything else with its tenseness. Holding his breath, Tetsu waited for Souji to answer something, and after another second he did.

"Don´t be," the swordsman said, stiff back still facing his superior, voice distanced and devoid of any emotion. "If someone has to apologize it should be me. I withheld crucial information, after all."

"This is not what I wanted to apologize for," Hijikata answered just as quietly as before.

"Oh, you mean to apologize for calling me a naïve little kid and a murderer, then?" Souji asked, with just the slightest, biting undertone in his coolly spoken question.

Tetsu felt like someone had just punched him in the guts and his narrowed eyes instantly darted to Hijikata.

Before the man could give an answer though, the long haired first unit captain continued in a more controlled, utterly indifferent tone, "Don´t do that either. There is no need for apologizing for speaking the truth. If you could excuse me now."

With that he took his leave, not waiting for Hijikata to withdraw his arm and vanished around a corner with his head held up high and his gaze looking straight forward.

Unfortunately, Tetsu couldn´t see his master´s face, since he was standing with his back to the redhead, but it wouldn´t have changed much about the facts.

Tetsunosuke Ichimura was fuming with rage and disgust for a certain demon vice commander who had dared to insult one of his best friends, and the soft-spoken, lovely first unit captain at that. The newfound respect he´d recently gained for his master evaporated into nothingness, and the pained expression briefly shown on the man´s face when he turned around, didn´t change that either.

Silently, before Hijikata could notice his eavesdropping, Tetsu crept away, to wait for the demon at his room.

*

Hijikata gravely looked at the group of young men that had gathered for the secret meeting he had initiated. He had managed to get the commander´s permision for this gathering rather easily, just telling the man that it was a serious issue about possible traitours amongst them. Naturally, Kondo had taken the issue very seriously and left the rest to Hijikata, oblivious to the fact that the 'horrendous, traitorous act' that had to be taken care of was more of a 'Hijikata´s-personal, -out-of-raging-jealousy,- revenge-'mission. Even if he had known, however, he´d probably just give a generous smile and nod his approval, happy to see Hijikata so 'lively' and 'determined'.

Anyway, the first thing in the morning Hijikata had done was to convene a meeting with the men he could trust. Those would be, a nervously fidgeting Tatsunosuke Ichimura who repeatedly shot accusing, worried glances at his cranky little brother, and inwardly asked himself what Tetsu had done now that a special meeting had to be announced.

Yamanami had calmly taken place by the closed doors, adjusting his glasses with a small smile on his lips and patiently waiting for Hijikata to let the cat out of the bag.

Saito was leaning against the paper wall in the background, seeming to be staring into nothingness.

The comedian trio sat together, their frolicing, unnerving attitude for once being absent. It was clear to everyone in the room that this was about a serious , they judged from Hjikata´s grave, overtired face and demenor that it was ,at the very least, important to him; so they gave the necessary respect to the case.

Letting his gaze wander over the 7 men again, his eyes were drawn to the now vacant spot Suzume usually occupied. It gave his heart just the tinniest stab to see it empty now, but of course he´d had to make sure that the shinobi was nowhere near his secret meeting that was sat up to bring him down. Thus the ninja was on a fake mission right now, getting utterly useless information while the demon was planning on how to best stab his back -just like Suzume had done to him.

Taking the pipe out of his mouth, Hijikata finally raised his deep voice.

"As you may know there is someone placing unrequested objects before first unit captain Okita Souji´s room," he intoned, a dark look briefly flickering over his face as he slowly walked up in front of the men.

"We have reason to believe that this is of danger to our facility. Despite our hardest efforts, we have not been able to identify or catch the culprit. We do not know who it is and if he means any harm, but the fact is that he roams our quarters. To prevent possible dangers, I decided that we will get him tonight. It is highly likely that he will appear again and this will be our chance to catch him. We will draw a circle around Captain Okita´s estate that leaves no escape route. Saito and Todo will flank the north, Yamanami the east, Nagakura and Harada the south and Ichimura the west. Make sure no one sees you, least of all- captain Okita. We wouldn´t want to make his behaviour make the culprit wary. Be at your posts after dawn. Any questions? "

He threw a grumpy look at the crowd, daring them to bother him with their stupidity, but none of them did. They just sat, nodding at him that they had understood.

The brat of a page was glaring daggers at him for a reason Hijikata could not comprehend, since he hadn´t done anything to him as far as he knew. Then again, he didn´t really give a damn about Tetsu´s whims, he had more important things to do.

It was after a moment to gather his courage that Tatsunosuke Ichimura hesitantly reached up his hand.

"Excuse me sir, but what am I supposed to do?" Licking his lips, he nervously eyed the dark aura radiating from Hijikata Toshizou.

Taking the pipe out of his mouth again, the demon vice commander growled, "You will make sure that your brother doesn´t screw up."

"Yes sir!" Tatsunosuke eagerly saluted, ignoring the exasperated look his little brother graced him with.

"Good. I´ll see you at sundown. Just a last warning, though," Hijikata said, intently staring at every one of them, "the culprit might be someone you know, and I expect you to not let judgement be clouded by this."

After a collective, "Yes, sir", he released them and went to take his own preparations.

Determined, scheming demon vice commander: 4

Easily fooled wanna-be ninja: 3

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**Faichan5 - HEEHEE this is awesome as always. I feel so awesome and special since i get to beta it. I can NOT wait to do the next chapter!**

**Shadow Hylian: **Thank you! Yes, I thought I should point out that Hijikata´s accusations weren´t totally unreasonable, at least to him. And in a sense he is right, he just exaggerated the facts. Now he´s ashamed of himself... Heh, it´s always the quiet ones, or so they say ;) Thanks again for the feedback, and I´m really glad you liked it!

**Naokiru Michiyuki:** Hehe, it´s always the ones you´d least expect^^ Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you liked the new chapter as well!

**Evanette-chan:** Oh, you may be right, I found many different pronounciations on the net (looked it up again, after I read your comment). (Personally I thought that the second 'z'/'s' was spoken softer than the first one. And since a soft spoken 's' is written as 'z' in Japanese I thought Suzumu was rather plausible... But I really don´t know^^). I suppose I´ll just stick to Suzumu, since I´ve written it like that all the time. But thank you for pointing that out to me!

**wyrdsister jr.:** Hiya! I hope you don´t mind that I put your version at the beginning of the new chapter, but it was so funny! I had tears in my eyes when I read it, because I laughed so hard! (If you want me to take it out, I will of course!). Hm, so you do not believe it´s Suzumu? Well, we´ll have to wait for the next chapter, and then you´ll see! If I was your personal slave-author, what would you make me write? (Btw: you´ve such a wondeful, dry humour, I bet you´d be a great writer yourself!!!). Thank you very much for the review!

**Lo:** Thank you! I´m glad you liked it, and hopefully you enjoyed the new chapter as well!

**Review please?**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hiya! Here it is, chapter 8! Very many thankies to faichan5 for being such an awesome beta and doing it in one night!!!**

**So here it is, hope you enjoy it, and sorry in advance for the evil cliffy (well, kind of...)!**

* * *

8

Hijikata Toshizou impatiently paced his room, waiting for time to go by.

Again.

All this waiting was getting on his nerves, he wasn´t a person to sit around and hope for something to happen. He was a man of actions, and it bugged him even more since this particular matter was especially precarious and tense. He was personally involved here, what didn´t do his patience any good anyway…

"ICHIMURA!" he barked in the general direction of the garden, taking his pipe out of his mouth and killing some impudently chirping birds in the tree nearby with his unnerved, withering glare.

"H-hai, Hijikata-san," was the answer from somewhere outside; the muffled sound of bare feet hurrying over the porch, filled the air. The next moment a certain redhead skittered to a halt before his open paper door.

Hastily getting on his knees and bowing down before his master, Tetsu placed the tea cup on the polished wood.

Hovering over him was one stressed demon vice commander, wild gaze blazing down on him. Tetsu could almost swear that his poor head was starting to fume.

"What´s this?" Hijikata suddenly growled, narrowing his eyes and stopping to chew at his pipe.

"What?" the redhead frowned, looking up, but immediately choosing to stare at the polished panels when he met with the infuriated scowl above him.

"This," the man snarled, pointing with his sandal at something next to the cup. "You spilled it _again_!"

Tetsu stared hard at the spot where Hijikata was pointing at, but could not, for the hell of it, make anything out. "I don´t see anything Hijikata-sa-"

The feral growl from above made him shut up and with a pout he pulled down his sleeve to wipe the nothing away. Seriously, the man was killing him with his mood-swings and anyway, he never had any approving words for Tetsu, just glaring and shouting and taking his anger out on him even though Tetsu hadn´t done anything and it was all Hijikata-san's own fault for saying these awful things to Okita-san and-

In his agitated state, he probably was just a little too eager and suddenly there _was_ something, namely the entire contents of the cup, spilling over the floor as Tetsunosuke accidently knocked it over.

He froze in action, becoming pale. Oh no, please, that would just give his master the justification he needed to go on a rant on him…

Luckily, the redhead was spared though, because just as the demon vice commander was taking a deep breath to give his unworthy, clumsy, and utterly useless page a good piece of his pissed mind, Yamanami came around the corner. Quickly assessing the situation, he lifted a hand in greeting and called out to his fellow vice commander.

"Toshi, there you are!"

Hijikata´s head snapped towards the other man and directed his frustration about being deterred from screaming at his page at him by snarling "Of course I am, where else would I be?!"

"Ma-ma," Yamanami tried to pacify the situation, throwing Tetsu a meaningful look to get out of the danger zone as long as the demon vice commander was distracted. Hurriedly the redhead gathered the cup and made a run for it, swearing to himself that it was healthier today to just not show up before his master again.

"What do you want, Sannan, as you can clearly see I am busy" Hijikata snapped surly, looking back at where his page was sitting, but only finding a wet, vacant spot. "What the-"

He swirled around and was just about to chase after the ungrateful brat, when Yamanami gave an inaudible sigh and drew the man´s attention back to him.

"Actually I came by, Toshi, to ask if you´d like to play a game of shogi with me? You seem a little stressed, it will calm you down." He smiled that calm, benign smile of his, but jerked back in surprise when Hijikata almost jumped at him, exploding into his face,

"I AM calm, damn you!!!"

Clearing his throat, the second vice commander adjusted his glasses, answering in a friendly manner "I see. My apologies."

Hijikata just huffed and dismissed it with an impatient gesture of his hand, taking a drag from his pipe and walking back into his room.

"So, how about a game," Yamanami offered with a smile, following the other into his quarters.

"I´m not in the mood…" the demon vice comander declared grumpily, plopping down on the tatami cross-legged and propping his head on one hand.

"Hm," was the understanding reply from the bespectacled man, as he knelt down before his friend, and looked at him with keen eyes.

They were silent for a moment, which Hijikata rather fancied, but of course Sannan just couldn´t keep his trap shut.

"Do you want to tell me what is keeping you so busy?" he asked quietly, and was instantly answered by a growled "No, I don´t."

Yamanami remained patient though, re-adjusting his glasses again.

"Well, if you must know," Hijikata suddenly flared up in an unnerved manner "the whole thing´s putting me on edge."

"I understand that," the other man said carefully, smiling a little. "But I am sure there is nothing to be concerned about," he assured, adding "Souji adores you, very much so. You shouldn´t worry too much, you have been friends for years. No one knows him better than you."

The demon vice commander snorted at that, a frustrated, resigned sound. "I doubt he has any friendly feelings for me right now."

That made a slight frown appear on the bespectacled man´s face, and he softly inquired "Did something happen?"

Taking the pipe out of his mouth Hijikata rubbed over his tired eyes, making a dismissive gesture again, and explaining, "We had a fight. I found out that he was hiding one of those… _things_ from me, and I confronted him about it."

"Hm" Yamanami sighed.

"Yeah," the demon grumbled, draping his arm over his knee and taking another long drag from his pipe while morosely staring holes into the stupid tatami.

"He´s actually enjoying those presents and indirectly told me to mind my own business."

"I see," the other said in a sympathetic manner. "But that might just be a phase, he is at that age now-"

"I told him no one would ever love him because he´s a naive little kid and a monster."

"…Oh dear."

"I know," Hijikata snapped, agitated, and fell back to stare at the ceiling. "It isn´t like I meant it… Well, I did, but not like that."

Yamanami tried to hide his confused state, softly inquiring "Did you apologize to him?"

"I tried," was the bitter reply "but he just blocked it. He said that I was right and that there was nothing to apologize for. He has totally shut himself off from me. He hates me."

"Well, you said some pretty mean things to him," the other vice commander pointed out, but then a smile found its way back on his lips and he said in a reassuring manner "He doesn´t hate you, I am sure of that. He probably just needs some time. "

Closing his eyes, Hijikata gave an utterly unamused laughed. "I probably don´t _have_ that time anymore. I´ve lost him to that gift-throwing-bastard for good, and maybe I just deserve it."

Yamanami didn´t know what to say to this, feeling that nothing he said would be of comfort to his friend anyway. And knowing Hijikata it was probably best to leave him alone for now, to figure things out himself.

"Why don´t you rest for a bit? I am sure things will look less fatal when you wake up."

There was no reply from the ground where Hijikata lay still with his eyes closed, one arm draped over his forehead.

Before the bespectacled man could make it out of the room though, the demon vice commander spoke up again, his voice echoing through the warm, lazy afternoon.

"It´s Yamazaki. I have lost two of the people I trusted most. But I will make sure that he gets what he deserves, very much so. When I´m done with him, he'll have wished he never took a step inside the shinsengumi. I will take him down Sannan, and if it´s the last thing I do."

The coldly spoken statement made the other man stiffen, his face becoming sad. The determined and utterly serious words held no bright future for one shinobi, and Yamanami was repulsed by that. Hijikata wasn´t called 'demon vice commander' for nothing, and once the reckless, cruel side of the man had taken control there was no mercy for his victims until he had them utterly destroyed.

"Just get some sleep," Yamanami said quietly, taking a last glance at the already half-asleep, exhausted figure of his friend and silently closing the door behind him.

*

"Is everyone in position?" Heisuke whispered, taking a glance over the utterly still and dark garden.

"Who knows," Sanosuke yawned, leaning against a tree with his hands behind his head and lazily observing the dark quarters of First Unit Captain Okita Souji opposite their hiding place. The light had been douzed maybe two hours ago and so far nothing unusual had happened at all.

They were sitting here since hours before, it was utterly boring, a root was pestering his sore ass, and he was so damn tired…

"Ah, man," the larger man exclaimed suddenly, in a slightly desperate way, sitting up and letting his hands drop in his lap. "Why do we have to do this anyway?! I mean, it´s just sweets and haiku, nothing that could get anyone hurt or _killed_."

"Stop sulking," came the dry reply from his partner, along with a warning look to lower his voice. Heisuke shifted his gaze back towards the object of their observations and then pointed out quietly, "It could get someone hurt, though."

There was a big question mark plastered to the other man´s face and shaking his head the 8th unit captain sighed with a lifted an eyebrow, "Hijikata-san, for example?"

Sanosuke still looked at him with big, questioning eyes, but then they lightened as it seemed to dawn on him. "Ah, you mean Hijikata-san-" he stopped, frowning, and then looked somewhat incredulous "Wait. You mean Hijikata-san and Souji are… are like _this_?"

Rolling his eyes, Heisuke focused his attention back on his mission. " They are probably not like that _yet_, but Hijikata may want to, and that´s why we are here and have to scare away whoever makes moves on him. I mean why not? Souji´s a cool guy, funny, skilled, well-mannered if he wants to be and not to forget stunningly beautiful."

Frowning, Sanosuke threw his friend a suspicious look, asking a bit alienated "Ya sure _you_ ain´t the culprit?!" He was infamous for being a sucker for cute things after all…

Before the joker could give a wry reply to that, something caught his eye though, and he abruptly withdrew deeper into the shadows of the bushes, giving his friend a sign to stay silent.

On alert now, Sanosuke grabbed for his spear and jumped into a sitting position, ready to dart out and pin whoever it was that sauntered into their quarters past midnight.

At first, he couldn´t make out anything in the dark garden, but then the clouds wandered past the moon and cast the suroundings into dull silver light. And there it was; a dark silouette creeping towards Souji Okita´s quarters.

Sharing a meaningful look, the two shinsengumi members crawled forward without making a sound. Out of the corner of his eye Heisuke could see the rest of the troop move as well.

They didn´t need any signals to understand, they knew each other for so long that they worked on instinct, like a silent connection had beenh built between them. And so they jumped out in unison, trapping the enemy in a human circle.

Before the culprit could act at all, a latern was lit and suddenly thrust in his face, while several sharp objects deterred him from even thinking about escaping.

The tension was almost killing Tetsu, but he wasn´t the only one to stare aghast at the finally exposed perpetrator once the light hit his face.

"YOU?!"

*

glorious strategist Hijikata Toshizou :5

unlucky, dumb, and soon-to-be-sliced shinobi: 0 (Minus 3 for the dumbness)

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**Yeah, I needed to get back some fun into the story, because it got a bit angsty, and the two parts of the joker trio just came in handy^^**

**Beta Note- I love this frickin' story! Anyhow I laugh at Suzume for being minus three points. ****HEHEHE. Go ! **

**wyrdsister jr.: **Aww, your grammatics were fine, I understood everything! Haha, you´re so sweet! I´ll punch the firat one to throw a stone into a bloody pulp :} You gave me a lot of wonderful plotbunnies, maybe my muses will feed on it and I´ll try another story^^ I especially liked the idea with Okita producing ambigious situations to harass poor Hijikata... (And about the 5 ways of Okita trying to seduce Hijikata: I might include that into the next story I´m planning, if you don´t mind? Give you credit of course!). About the chapter: we _still_ don´t know if it´s Suzumu or not, but I´m still taking bets ;)

**Naokiru Michiyuki:** Ah, I´m sorry *sigh* Yes, there is tension between Souji and Toshi, but it´s understandable I think... It was a bit inevitable, but I´d rather see them being happy together too! But I´m positive that things will get better for them, eventually (if as lovers is another matter, though...). Glad you still liked it! (And btw: what a nice sounding pen name you have! I just noticed by saying it out loud^^)

**dragonfly-affinity:** Haha, thank you! We´ll see about the HijiOki thing, but things certainly are heated up between them ;) Thank you on the compliment for portraying Hijikata! I probably said it before, but he´s not an easy character... On the one hand he´s grumpy and evil, but then he can be very caring and lenient as well, especially where Souji is concerned (that was the impression I got from both, the manga and anime). So thank you very much again, and I hope you look forward to the bunny I´ll pull out in the next chapter^^

**Shadow Hylian:** Yay, I´m glad you even liked the angsty part! I know it started off quite fluffy, and got dramatically angsty later on, but love isn´t such an easy matter and not always sunshine. It´s something you have to fight for and sometimes you even can fail... I thought long about how Souji might react, and decided that he wouldn´t be a whiny little child. He didn´t even cry after he killed Yamanami in the manga, so I thought he wouldn´t about something like that either... We´ll see about the confrontation next chapter, so just another few days (until it´s betaed) and then I´ll post it!

**Aiko Celeste:** Thank you! I feel like I have to throw in some lighter parts, because it´s getting too angsty otherwise and that just wouldn´t really suit the whole PM atmosphere I think^^ Glad you liked it!

**Minh-Tuyet:** Yes, I know! Sorry, I put in a funny part this time, so it doesn´t look too serious. I hope you like it and thank you for reviewing!

**So, see you next chapter, and review please?** **(It´s already written, btw and you know the drill: the more reviews, the sooner posted ;))**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hiya, welcome to the last chapter! My dear beta faichan5 is a bit busy right now, hence this chapter is unbetaed, but I will change that as soon as she is done.**

**I hope you still enjoy it!**

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9

Hijikata Toshizou blinked in confusion, then he glanced to the side at his fellow vice commander. "What the- What the hell his going on here?!"

Yamanami was just as dumbfounded as everyone else was, lowering his sword.

"I-I don´t know," Shinpachi stammered, finally taking the latern out of the culprit´s face.

Before anyone had the chance to get over their confusion, a door suddenly slid aside, revealing the tired figure of Okita Souji, rubbing his sleepy eyes, a pillow tightly hugged to his slim body. He would have been just immensely cute and adorable, if it hadn´t been for the razor sharp blade dangling from his other hand. And everyone who knew him just a bit also knew that there was absolutely nothing 'cute' or darling about the first unit captain once he got serious.

All eyes were focused on him now, as he gazed at the group of men suddenly popping up before his room just in the middle of the night.

"Are you having a pjyama party without me?" he asked, in an odd mixture of indignation and excitement, big eyes sparkling in the dim light.

"Errrh…no?" Sanosuke frowned, throwing an unsure, question look to his demon vice commander.

The man just blinked again, not understanding what was going on.

The last thing he knew was lying down to get some rest before the whole operation started. And now he found himself here, out in the garden in the middle of the night, surrounded by his own men pointing their weapons at him and…

Looking down at himself, Hijikata´s eyes narrowed, just to widen in utter shock the next moment.

He was holding a little white package with a red bow?!

Jaw dropping down, he looked up at Sannan, seeking for an explanation, but the man seemed just as overwhelmed by the situation as the demon vice commander obviously was himself.

Then it slowly dawned on Hijikata though, and he hastily tried to hide the present from Souji´s view, thankful that he was covered by Ichimura before his first unit captain could have taken a closer look.

Throwing his men a threatening look to dare and speak up, he turned around, clearing his throat.

"No, Souji, there is no pyjama party. We were just patro-"

"Actually," a calm, almost bored voice suddenly cut in, "Hijikata-san gathered us here on a mission to catch the person that places presents before your door."

The demon vice commander was too deeply surprised by the bold interruption to put Saito Hajime back in his place, so the man stepped forwards, unfazed, and leaned over to stare Souji right in the eye, their noses almost touching.

What he could see was cold anger, but underneath just seethed… something else.

Something that convinced Saito that his direction was needed.

"As it turns out, Hijikata-san has a shadow haunting him, that brings him to express his feelings in his sleep since it seems that he is unable to do conciously… Meaning the one who gave you presence all the time was Hijikata-san himsel-"

"That´s enough!" Hijikata interrupted harshly, finally having found his composure again. Before Saito could reveal even more to Souji and his men, he shoved the man aside, barking "That´s it, the mission´s off, go back to your rooms!"

Then he grabbed a dumbfounded first unit captain, dragged him back into his room and shut the door behind them with a bang.

Panting he stood there for a moment, listening to the sounds of his troop leaving and breathing out when they were finally gone. Somehow this hadn´t went at all how he had planned!

But somehow it all made sense now: why the culprit had known so much about Souji; why the writing of the Haiku had been so familiar (although it would remain a mystery forever, how Hijikata Toshizou had managed to think up its contents. Later attempts to produce something similar proved fruitless, but Souji assured him that he liked his other Haikus better anyway, because they were more 'fun'.). It also explained, why Suzumu hadn´t been able to notice anything, because if there was one person able to outwit the shinobi it was Hijikata Toshizou, even unconciously. Saito pointed out later that Hijikata most likely somehow wanted to get caught when his men were laying out for the culprit and that that had been the reason why they had gotten him at all.

Finally turning around, he noticed that Souji meanwhile had lit an oillamp and placed it on the tatami. He himself was sitting on his futon, sword stowed away and looking up at the demon vice commander with big, indecipherable eyes.

Hijikata sighed. This wouldn´t be easy… But at least the coldness had vanished from Souji´s behaviour.

Clearing his throat again, Hijikata made a step forward, suddenly wishing he had his pipe with him to have something to do or something to… cling to. He really wasn´t good with those things.

"I apologize for stirring this commotion and disturbing your sleep."

Souji just shrugged -in a somewhat lost manner, Hijikata thought- and then said quietly "So you sat this up to get my admirer, didn´t you?"

The demon vice commander thought if he could maybe worm his way out of this, but then just slumbed his shoulders, admitting with a sigh, "Yes."

"And now it turned out, that the admirer was actually… you?"

Hijikata fidgeted a little, but then sat down, moving a hand over his face and avoiding eyecontact with Souji.

"But you said I´m a monster," the first unit captain said softly, kneeling on his futon, eyes on the hands folded in his lap. "And you are right, because I am and I cannot change that… Or being a naiv little kid."

The finite, resigned tone in which those words were said made the vice commander look up again, saying harshly,

"I like you like that."

Now it was on Souji to look up in surprise, frowning. "But-"

"No buts," Hijikata interrupted again, moving a hand through his hair in agitation. "I know what I said, but I didn´t mean it like that. I like you just the way you are, Souji, I _need_ you like this and I wouldn´t want you any different! I like you a lot Souji, more than anyone else, and I am truly sorry for having hurt you."

"Hijikata-san…" The young man´s eyes had gone round at the sudden outburst, because usually his vice commander wasn´t that open with his feelings. When it wasn´t anger, hate or sadism, that was.

"I like you a lot too," he then added, cheeks a little flushed, and Hijikata thought just how adorable he looked.

They remained silent for a moment, because the older man just felt embarrassed, and Souji because he had to ponder on the knew development of the situation. Actually he had given up all hopes on ever getting through to his favorite grumpy demon vice commander, and now he had just come to know that he was actually liked back and that Hijikata even had placed little presents before his door in his sleep.

"So…" Souji finally spoke up again, the mischief back in his voice as he cocked his head. "What´s in that bag?"

The vice commander frowned, looking at the white thing with the red bow that was still in his hand. "Actually… I don´t know."

"Oh, let me see then!" the first unit captain exclaimed, shuffling closer. "It was supposed to be for me after all, wasn´t it?"

"I guess so," was the slowly spoken reply and then the package was already grabbed out of his hand and eager fingers fumbled with the ribbon.

Quietly, Hijikata watched Souji opening the bag, beaming "Candy!"

Then he lunged himself at the taller man, wrapping his arms around his neck. "Thank you, Hijikata-san!"

The demon vice commander stiffened at the hug, but then he awkwardly drew his arms around the lithe figure, touching this body for the first time in such an intimate way. He had never dared to before, being afraid that maybe he could soil this pure creature with his evilness and maybe that he couldn´t restrain himself from his deeper desires and urges, but right now there was no such need at all. It simply felt good to hold Souji, smelling his unique scent, feeling his soft hair tickling the skin on his face…

He could have just stayed like this forever, but he felt Souji moving away and let his arms drop down again.

Popping a candy into his mouth, the young man sat back on his heels, inquiring with an impish grin "So you just did all those evil, mean things to me out of utter, driving jealousy, didn´t you, Hijikata-san?"

"Don´t push it, Souji," the other said in an irritated manner, rubbing his temple, but then grumpily admitted "Well, maybe… a little."

"Awww, don´t be like this, Hijikata-san," Souji beamed in that manner of his, rolling his candy in his mouth. Then he suddenly yawned, looking sleepy.

"Uh, it´s late. We should go to bed."

Hijikata just nodded, rising to his feet and just about to leave the room, when the other grabbed his arm, huffing.

"Where are you going Hijikata-san? You will sleep here of course! You just confessed to me and we have candies and if I move to the side a little there´s just enough space for both of us . We can have a pyjama party!" He looked toughtful for a moment, index finger on his chin, before he remarked "Unless you want to go back and be pestered with questions from Yamanami-san, that is…"

"I thought you said you wanted to go to _sleep_?" Hijikata irritably said, looking not very enthusiastic (although he really didn´t want to leave) and already feeling a headache coming on. Also he felt like pointing out that he hadn´t exactly _confessed, _but then he just led it slide.

"Mou, Hijikata-san, don´t be such a crouch," Souji pouted, still clinging to the vice commanders arm.

Sighing, the man finally gave in, because somehow his former page did have a point with Yamanami, and let himself be dragged to the bed. He lay down on his back beside the young man who flopped on his belly, and listened to Souji´s explanations on how he had planned on sanctioning Hijikata with a cold shoulder and mean, little treats, until his voice became slurred and eventually the only sound he was making was even, little breathing noises.

Hijikata douzed the light and carefully pulled the blanket over Souji´s slim shoulder.

And then he just lay there, enjoying the feeling of the body nuzzled against his, and the calm and fuzzy feeling in his stomach until he fell asleep.

Demon Vice Commander Hijikata Toshizou: wins it all.

**end**

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**Alright, that´s it folks! I hope you had as much fun with this as I had^^ Since I am busy right now, and have a lot of other stories running the sequel (or an entire new story) gets postponed until I have more time, sorry. Still, I very much enjoy this pairing and I´m relatively positive that there will be more of it :)**

**Evanette chan:** Thank you, I´m glad you like the story! I hope this was soon enough (but then it never is, or at least it is never for me. I wished I was a faster writer...).

**wyrdsister jr:** I must say I have great respect for your deduction skills^^ When you mentioned the first time that it could be Hijikata himself I was like :'Awww shit she knows'^^ I was so impressed, and I understand your reasoning why it couldn´t be Hijikata. But since Tetsu was too surprised and he´s a natural loudmouth I suppose he could have said just simply 'YOU!'... No? I hope it´s plausible ^^' As for the sequel: it´ll have to wait for a bit, I´m afraid, since college starts in a week and I have a bunch of papers to write. But maybe I find some time to write a quick oneshot or so, I jst love the Hiji/Souji pairing! Thank you for all the great reviews and hopefully see you soon!

**Naokiru Michiyuki:** I´m glad you liked it! The mood in this chapter went softer and happy again, all the angsting´s been washed away by Souji´s awesomeness and Hijikata´s ...dorkyness. Thank you for the review and for reading!

**AnimeGodess1990:** Alright, here it is^^ I admit the update took a little longer, but at last it got posted. I hope I didn´t kill you before ;) Thank you for the review and I´m glad you liked it!

**Your last time to share your thoughts with me on this ;) I would LOVE to hear it, so please review?**


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